Former SMART manager Dan Dirks named director of DDOT

The former general manager of the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation will become the next director of the Detroit Department of Transportation next week.

Dan Dirks, SMART's general manager from 1998 until 2007, was named to the position Friday afternoon. Earlier this week, Mayor Mike Duggan announced that he had hired a new director following city bus delays during the snow storm that hit the region earlier this week.

"A reliable public transportation system is critical to our efforts to keep Detroiters in Detroit and make it a welcoming place for visitors and for new businesses to locate," Duggan said in a news release. "Dan knows the challenges we face at DDOT because he faced and overcame similar challenges during his time at SMART. He will be able to bring about a noticeable improvement and better coordination in transportation services we provide to our residents."

John Roach, communications director for Duggan, said he did not know whether Dirks' salary and benefits package have been finalized.

Dirks, 62, most recently ran a transportation consulting company based in Louisville, Ky., Roach said.

Dallas-based MV Transportation Inc. has managed DDOT since last August under a contract that's set to expire in September, according to the news release.

Paul Toliver, an MV Transportation employee who has been running DDOT since September, will report to Dirks during the duration of MV's contract.

Duggan said on Tuesday that he was traveling Woodward Avenue south on Monday and saw eight SMART buses and only two DDOT buses. DDOT is twice the size of SMART, Duggan said.

"By 8 a.m., DDOT was already two hours behind schedule," Duggan said. "I was so embarrassed and angry for the people who were standing out and trying to get to work, trying to get to the places they were going, in sub-zero weather for hours at a time.